Automatic reel mounting device for a continuous winding machine

ABSTRACT

EMPTY REELS RESTED ON THE INCLINED RAILS ARE AUTOMATICALLY ROLLED DOWN ONE BY ONE UPON RECEIPT OF A STARTING SIGNAL. IN THE COURSE OF SUCH ROLLING THE REEL IS STOPPED TO REST ON A REEL-LIFT, WHICH RAISES THE REEL TO THE POSITION WHERE IT IS HELD BETWEEN DRIVE AND DRIVEN DISCS OF A CONTINUOUS WINDING MACHINE TO BE ROTATED FOR TAKING UP WIRE ON IT, WHILE A FULLY TAKEN UP REEL HELD BETWEEN ANOTHER SET OF DISCS OF THE MACHINE IS LOWERED BY ANOTHER REEL-LIFT FROM THE WINDING POSITION OF THE MACHINE ONTO THE INCLINED RAILS AND HENCE ROLLED DOWN TO A REEL STACKING AREA NEAR THE END OF THE RAILS.   D R A W I N G

March 20, 1973 HIROSHI HORI ET A ,3 7

AUTOMATIC REELrMOUNTING DEVICE FOR A CONTINUOUS WINDING MACHINE FiledNov. 16, 1970 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG.

iiilhiiw FIG. 3

HIROSHI HORI, SHOJI KOSUGE, TOSHIO MATSUNAGA and EISHICHI SOMEYA,

INVENTORS ATTORNEY March 20, 1973 HIROSHI HORI ET AL 3,721,397

AUTOMATIC REEL MOUNTING DEVICE FOR A CONTINUOUS WINDING MACHINE FiledNov. 16, 1970 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 HIROSHI HORI,

SHOJI KOSUGE,

TOSI-IIO MATSUNAGA and EISHICHI SOMEYA,

INVENTORs ATTORNEYS United States Patent O 3,721,397 AUTOMATIC REELMOUNTING DEVICE FOR A CONTINUOUS WINDING MACHINE Hiroshi Hori and ShojiKosuge, Yokohama, Toshio Matsunaga, Yokosuka, and Eishichi Someya,Yokohama, Japan, assignors to Japan Steel Works Ltd., Tokyo,

Japan Filed Nov. 16, 1970, Ser. No. 89,944 Claims priority, applicationJapan, Nov. 25, 1969, ht/94,523 Int. Cl. B65h 17/02 US. Cl. 242-67.l R 4Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Empty reels rested on the inclinedrails are automatically rolled down one by one upon receipt of astarting signal. In the course of such rolling the reel is stopped torest on a reel-lift, which raises the reel to the position where it isheld between drive and driven discs of a continuous winding machine tobe rotated for taking up wire on it, while a fully taken up reel heldbetween another set of discs of the machine is lowered by anotherreel-lift from the winding position of the machine onto the inclinedrails and hence rolled down to a reel stacking area near the end of therails.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to an automatic reelmounting device for a continuous winding machine, and more particularlyto an automatic reel mounting device for such a continuous windingmachine that continuously takes up on reels an insulated conductorimmediately after a conductor is extruded with an insulating coveringover it e.g. by an extrusion covering machine.

Recently, much progress has been seen in such automatic reel mountingdevices; but, with a mounting increase in the winding speed, thereplacement of reels becomes so frequent that the conventional reelmounting devices can no longer cope with such frequent replacements ofreels.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention toprovide an automatic reel mounting device for a continuous windingmachine which can automatically carry out the supply, mounting,dismounting and receiving of reels for a continuous winding machine witha much higher speed than previously attained.

The automatic reel mounting device of the present invention ispreferably composed of a pair of inclined rails for rolling reelsthereon by their own weight. The rails are provided with two sectionsalong their longitudinal direction which are made movable orthogonallyto the rails for stopping or receiving a reel at these sections, andthere is further provided a reel-lift at each of these sections tosupport the reel thereon. The reel-lifts are made to be actuated toraise an empty reel to the taking up position of the winding machinedisposed directly above the reellift or to lower the fully taken up reelfrom the taking up position of the machine onto the inclined rails.

Patented Mar. 20, 1973 In the automatic reel mounting device of thepresent invention, when the automatic reel mounting device is used in acontinuous winding machine which continuously takes up a wirealternately on two reels respectively disposed directly above each ofthe lifts, an empty reel rolling down the inclined rails is caused to bestopped at one of the movable sections of the rails by displacing suchmovable section from the position aligning with the inclined rails, orto be passed through the other of the movable sections by aligning suchother movable section with the inclined rails. When the empty reel isstopped at a movable section, the reel-lift is adapted to be movedupwards to raise the empty reel to the taking up position of thecontinuous winding machine, and the other reel-lift is adapted to bemoved downward from the taking up position to lower the fully taken upreel onto the inclined rails and the reel is rolled down on the inclinedrails to a storing area near the end of the rails. And these operationscan be done automatically and sequentially by the provision ofappropriate means such as limit switches at desired positions in thecourses of the movements of the reels and the reel-lifts etc.Accordingly, if a number of the empty reels are stored on the inclinedrails outside the continuous winding machine, they are automatically fedone by one to the taking up position of the winding machine upon receiptof a signal indicating that a fully taken up reel has 'been led to thestoring area near the end of the inclined rails, and at the same time, afully taken up reel is dismounted from the winding machine.

Thus it will be appreciated that, according to the present automaticreel mounting device, the mounting and dismounting of the reels arecarried out automatically, securely and yet with a higher speed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS This and other objects of the presentinvention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art whenconsidered in reference to the following detailed description in thelight of the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatical view of a continuous winding machineproviding an embodiment of an automatic reel mounting device accordingto the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatical view of an embodiment of an automatic reelmounting device according to the present invention; and

FIG. 3 is a partial cross sectional view of the device shown in FIG. 2taken along the line IIIIII thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT It will be recognized that allof the figures of the drawings are in part schematic in order to permitan understanding of the invention without showing and describingunnecessary details.

Referring now to FIG. 1 of the drawings, there is diagrammatically showna continuous winding machine providing an automatic reel mounting deviceaccording to the present invention. A pair of inclined rails 4 aredisposed underneath a continuous winding machine M. When a fully woundreel 2 rolls down along the inclined rails 4 and actuates a limit switch3 to indicate that it has just passed through the switch, one of theempty reels 1 stored at the top of the inclined rails 4 is allowed to berolled down along the inclined rails 4 by a reel supplying device of anyknown type (not shown). At the same time, a movable rail section Aformed in the inclined rails 4 at a position directly below one of thetwo taking up positions (A) of the continuous winding machine M isactuated to arrest the reel 1 as shown at position A, then the emptyreel 1 is raised to the taking up position A by a reel-lift disposedbelow the rail section (to be described in more detail below) and afterthe reel is held at the taking up position A by a reel holding device,as shown by 1' the reel-lift alone is lowered to the initial positon. Atthis state, on a reel 5 locating at the other taking up position B ofthe winding machine M is a wire 6 which is fed through a guide 7 andguided by a traverser 8 moving back and forth along the axial directionof the reels. Upon completion of the taking up on the reel 5, thewinding of the wire 6 is switched to the reel 1' by any known means.After the reel 5 stops rotating, it is received on another reel-liftpreviously raised from another movable rail section formed in inclinedrails 4 directly below the taking up position B and then lowered towardthe inclined rails 4 to the position B. When this other reel-lift islowered below the inclined rails 4, the reel 5 is placed on the inclinedrails 4 and rolled downwardly thereon. After actuating the limit switch3, it is received on the storing area near the end of the rails (notshown).

Upon actuation of the limit switch 3, the following empty reel 1 storedon the inclined rails is caused to be rolled down to the position B tobe raised to the taking up position B of the machine M by the reel-lift.When the reel -1 at the taking up position A is fully wound, the windingis switched to the empty reel 5 located at the winding position B and atthe same time the fully wound reel 1' is lowered onto the rails 4 by thereel-lift.

Thus, by repeating the above operations alternately, the mounting ordismounting of the reels to the continuous winding machine isautomatically and yet continuously carried out with a higher speed.

An embodiment of the automatic reel mounting device according to thepresent will be fully explained in reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

In the figures, a shows an empty reel at one of the movable sections;

b, d show stationary inclined rail sections and c is a movable inclinedrail section adapted to be moved back and forth by an air cylinder 9. 10shows one of the reellifts having bifurcated arms to support a full orempty reel thereon. The reel-lift 10 is movable orthogonally thedirection of the rails by an air cylinder 12 carried by a bracket 11,which is in turn movable up and down along an upright mast 30 of thecontinuous winding machine M through a chain 15 engaging gears 31 and32, gear 31 being driven by a motor 13, through a reduction gear 14, agear 33, and a chain 34.

On the continuous winding machine M there is further provided a reelholding device for holding the reel under compressive force whichcomprises, for example, a driving shaft 16, a driving disc 17, a drivendisc 18 and a sleeve 20 shiftable by an air cylinder 19 mounted to theframe of the winding machine M. In FIG. 2, 21 and 22 show limit switchesfor stopping the motor 13 respectively at the predetermined lower anduper limited positions; 23 and 24 show limit switches for indicating theholding and releasing states of the reel holding device respectively.

Having thus described the elements comprising a preferred embodiment ofa device according to the present invention, its operation will now bebriefly described in reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

Upon actuation of the limit switch 3 which issues a signal that a fullywound reel 2 has passed thereby, one of the empty reels 1 on theinclined rails 4 outside the continuous winding machine M is forced tobe rolled down along the inclined rails 4 by the reel feeding device(not shown). Simultaneously one of the movable rail sections c is movedby the air cylinder 9 at a right angle to the inclined rails 4, that is,in the direction that the movable rail section 0 is moved out ofalignment with the statlonary rail sections b and d so that the emptyreel (1 falls down onto the respective reel-lift 10 and is therebystopped. Then, after the lapse of a predetermined time determined by atimer, the reel-lift 10 begins to be raised by the chain 15 driven bythe motor 13 through the reduction gear 14, whereby its bifurcated armspass through the gaps formed between the stationary rail section b, dand the movable rail section c. When the reel-lift 10 reaches theposition of the upper limit switch 22, it is stopped due to theresultant stopping of the motor 13. At the same time, both the aircylinder 19 for holding the reel and the air cylinder 12 for moving thereel-lift 10 are actuated, and the empty reel a is held under acompressive force between the driving disc 17 and the driven disc 18.When the limit switch 24 for indicating that the reel is in the heldstate is actuated, the reel-lift 10 is lowered and the movable railsection 0 is moved to the initial or normal position aligning with thestationary inclined rail sections b and (1. Upon reaching the positionof the lower limit switch 21, the reel-lift 10 is stopped.

On the contrary, in the case of the dismounting of a fully wound reelfrom the winding machine M, after the reel ceases the winding of thewire, the reel-lift 10 on the side of the fully wound reel is raised toreceive the reel, and actuates the uper limit switch 22. At the sametime the driven disc 18 as well as the sleeve 20 is operated by theholding air cylinder 19 and the reel-lift 10 by the air cylinder 12.When the air cylinder 19 actuates the limit switch 23 to indicate thatthe reel is released, the lift 10 having the fully wound reel thereon islowered to the position of the lower limit switch 21, stops and leavesthe reel on the movable rail section c which has previously returned tothe initial position shown at c in FIG. 2. Thus the fully wound reelleft on the movable rail section c rolls down by its own weight due tothe inclination of the rails, and, after it actuates the limit switch 3,it is stored near the end of the rails.

It will also be appreciated that the mounting and the dismounting of thereels is automatically taking place at the positions A and Balternately.

It is to be understood that although a form of this invention has beenillustrated and described, it is not to be limited thereto exceptinsofar as such limitations are included in the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An automatic reel mounting device for a continuous winding machine,said device comprising a pair of inclined rails positioned beneath saidcontinuous winding machine, said rails including stationary inclinedrail sections separated at different positions along the length thereofby movable inclined rail sections; means associated with a pair of saidmovable inclined rail sections to move said pair of movable inclinedrail sections horizontally transverse to the length of said inclinedrails to selectively bring said pair of movable inclined rail sectionsinto or out of alignment with said stationary inclined rail sections;each of said pair of movable inclined rail sections being positionedbelow a winding position of said continuous winding machine; a reel-liftaligned with each of said pair of movable inclined rail sections, eachsaid reel-lift having means for supporting a reel used in saidcontinuous winding machine; and means operatively associated with eachof said reel-lifts for selectively moving said supporting meansvertically from a first position below the level of the respectivemovable inclined rail section to a second position above said firstposition and in alignment with said respective winding position of saidcontinuous winding machine.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein there are longitudinal spacesbetween said stationary and movable inclined rail sections, and whereinsaid supporting means comprise bifurcated arms which move through saidspaces during movement to and from said first and second positions.

3. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein each of said means forhorizontally moving said pair of movable inclined rail sections comprisea fluid cylinder.

4. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein each of said reel-liftscomprises an air cylinder capable of moving said respective supportingmeans horizontally orthogonal to said length of said inclined rails; andsaid means for moving each of said reel-lifts vertically comprises abracket supporting said respective air cylinder, and motor driven chainmeans engaging said bracket.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,801,812 8/1957 Coulter 242793,231,210 1/1966 Miller 24281 X 3,345,014 10/1967 Shearn 242-79 STANLEYN. GILBREATH, Primary Examiner G. A. WALTERS, Assistant Examiner US. Cl.X.R. 242-56 A, 58.6, 81

